Farm Hand is the solo name of Islet member and Shape Records founder Mark Daman Thomas. International Dreams is his debut solo album and is the sound of Daman Thomas being restored to factory settings after moving from Cardiff to his homeland in the sparsely populated hills of Mid Wales.This album is his reflection on the realities of rural life, built on car boot beats, field recordings, loops and second hand organs. Freewheeling and full of deep, cyclical melodies, the album was recorded in a barn studio on the working family farm of Pontvane, Radnorshire, in spring 2017 with producer Rob Jones (Sweet Baboo, Slow Club).Farm Hand is an instinctual musical force with a love of expressive live performance.

Sometimes working in the same dreamy vein as fellow Europeans Ulrich Schnauss and M83 (see the arctic opener, "Over the Ice"), Willner streamlines that aesthetic, and steers it into deep house and trance territory (the propulsive "Good Things End"), resulting in an album that’s wholly appropriate for both headphones and dance floors. While those who lean towards warmer, more organic-sounding electronic music may be left out in the cold, SUBLIME will easily pull many fans of house-tinged techno into its exquisitely chilly climate.

Swedish sound-smith Axel Willner is well-known for his mastery when it comes to the allusive layering of loops, but with his last album "Cupid’s Head" a tougher soundscape started to replace the soft-hued sonics of his ambient-infused techno, giving it a darker mood and stronger footing than before. ’The Follower’ goes even further in blurring the lines between concrete experimentation, body music and precisely laid-out arrangement, leading to one of the most rhythmically and texturally engaging listening experiences in Willner’s catalogue. This is ambient techno on steroids, with a dose of metal machine music for good measure.

Flamingods are set to return with ’Majesty’, the band’s third album and debut release on Soundway Records. With this new album the five-piece have taken their sound in a new direction with a rich and multi-layered album brimming with diverse influences that reflect their multi-cultural backgrounds. The shimmering 10-track album crosses blissful psychedelia with a rich spectrum of the band’s sonic inspirations. ’Majesty’ was written and arranged with a conceptual narrative, cohesive both musically and lyrically, following the story of protagonist Yuka on his journey of enlightenment. The record is split in two, morning / light / good (tracks 1-5) and evening / dark / evil (tracks 6-10) that unravels track-by-track as the record plays out.

For the past 10 years, all roads Shepherd has followed have been slowly leading to ’Elaenia’ - an album with roots deep in his formative years, and one that draws upon everything Shepherd has done so far. An album that provides context to the music that Shepherd has been making to date. Every DJ set he’s performed, every talent he has produced, every composition he has written are thought of as precursors to ’Elaenia’ - a dazzling score which puts Shepherd in the spotlight as a composer who has produced an album that bridges the gap between his rapturous dance music and formative classical roots. Drawing inspiration from classical, jazz, electronic music, soul and even Brazilian popular music, ’Elaenia’ - named after the bird of the same name - is the epitome of the forward-thinking Floating Points vision in 2015.

Floating Points began as the solo project of Sam Shepherd before it became clear the immersive, intricate nature of his music demanded expansion. Following his critically acclaimed debut Elaenia this is exactly what happened and Floating Points live became a band of incredibly talented musicians with Sam at the helm. Now, Floating Points has announced a new short film and soundtrack, featuring entirely new and unheard compositions - Reflections - Mojave Desert via Pluto. The film, in collaboration with director Anna Diaz Ortuño, finds the ensemble in a thrilling sonic exploration of environment under an endless desert sky.

’Cosmogramma’ is the third album from producer Steven Ellison better known as Flying Lotus. Continuing with the experimental sound manipulation that has graced his previous albums, Ellison takes everything from glitchy drum loops, 8-bit samples and drones to create a unique and indescribable sound. Ellison is also joined by various musicians and vocalists including Thom Yorke, Laura Darlington and harpist Rebekah Raff.

Flying Lotus returns with ‘You’re Dead!’. At once reflective, restless, heart wrenching and joyous, this is a melodic ode to those who have died young, suddenly and unexpectedly, while also existing as a comfort to those mourning the loss of a loved one. ‘You’re Dead!’ serves as an exploration, a eulogy and a portal between the parallel domains of life and afterlife.

’There Is Love In You’ is the fifth studio album from electronic artist Kieran Hebden, who records under the moniker ’Four Tet’. It is his first release in five years, since 2005’s ’Everything Ecstatic’, but he shows no sign of losing his touch, with this being one of his most innovative releases to date. Four Tet is probably best known outside of electronic music circles for his work with Radiohead, who he has remixed and toured with. ’There Is Love In You’ is preceded by the single ’Love Cry’.

For the past two years, Nils Frahm has been building a brand new studio in Berlin to make his 7th studio album titled All Melody, released via Erased Tapes.

Since the day Nils first encountered the impressive studio of a family friend, he had envisioned to create one of his own at such a large scale. Fast forward to the present day and Nils is now the proud host of Saal 3, part of the historical 1950s East German Funkhaus building beside the River Spree. It is here where he has spent most of his time deconstructing and reconstructing the entire space from the cabling and electricity to the woodwork, before moving on to the finer elements; building a pipe organ and creating a mixing desk all from scratch with the help of his friends. This is somewhere music can be nurtured and not neglected, and where he can somewhat fulfil his pursuit of presenting music to the world as close to his imagination as possible.

Nils Frahm has always said that he’s just waiting for something real special when being asked if he would ever score the music for a film. And that’s exactly what German director Sebastian Schipperpresented to him with his one-take feature ‘Victoria’.For the recording session at Studio P4 in Berlin, Frahm enlisted the help of long-time collaborator and cellist Anne Müller, violist Viktor Orri Árnason and ambient artist Erik K. Skodvin of Deaf Center on guitar.

Spaces is an ode to the joy of live performance. It expresses Frahm’s love for experimentation and answers the call from his fans for a record that truly reflects what they have witnessed during his concerts. Breaking the convention of a traditional live album, Spaces was recorded over the course of two years in different locations and on various mediums, including old portable reel-to-reel recorders and cassette tape decks. These moments were later pieced together in his Durton Studio and referred to by Frahm as a collage of field recordings rather than a live album. It Includes surprise moments such as the sound of him banging a toilet brush on the piano strings to create a dub-sounding track. The decision to select takes that have people coughing and cell phones ringing show that his audience is an integral part of every performance. In his own words:

‘What I love most about playing in front of people has something to do with a certain kind of energy exchange. The attention and appreciation of my audience feeds back into my playing. It really seems as if there is a true and equal give and take between performer and listener, making me aware of how much I depend on my audience. And since the audience is different every night, the music being played will differ too. Every space I performed in has its own magic and spirit.’ – Nils Frahm